Commonwealth v. Smith
Commonwealth v. Smith
Opinion of the Court
The defendant, Darrell Smith, was convicted by a jury of armed robbery, G. L. c. 265, § 17 ; possession of a firearm without a license as a subsequent offender, G. L. c. 269, § 10(a ) and (d ), and as an armed career criminal, G. L. c. 269, § 10G ; and various other firearm offenses.
1. Background. Because the facts of this case were already set forth by the Supreme Judicial Court in connection with the defendant's direct appeal, we review them only briefly here. In the early morning hours of May 7, 2006, the victim, Trent Harvey, was driving in the Dorchester section of Boston when he saw Elizabeth Splaine, a sex worker with whom he was familiar, and gave her a ride. The two drove to several locations, including a bank in Cambridge from which Harvey withdrew $500 from an automated teller machine. Splaine saw Harvey place the money in the visor above his seat. Harvey dropped Splaine at her mother's house and proceeded to visit his daughter, leaving her $100. He then returned to pick up Splaine, who eventually asked Harvey to drive her to a particular intersection in Dorchester to meet a friend. When they arrived at the intersection, they found the defendant and Mahogany Penn, a woman with whom Harvey was familiar.
The defendant opened the door to let Splaine out and proceeded to enter Harvey's vehicle, point a firearm at Harvey's side, and command him to drive. The defendant took Harvey's gold chain and the remaining $400 that Harvey had placed in the vehicle's visor. Harvey managed to escape soon thereafter.
Boston police officers were called to the scene. Harvey reluctantly reported the theft and described the defendant, Splaine, and Penn. While Harvey was speaking to the police, Splaine walked out of a nearby apartment building. Several minutes later, Penn exited the same apartment building, spoke to Splaine, and returned to the building. Harvey identified Splaine and Penn as the women who had robbed him.
One of the officers recognized Splaine from an incident that had occurred one week earlier during which Splaine was present in a particular apartment (located in the same apartment building from which Splaine and Penn had exited) with a man matching Harvey's description of the male assailant. The police officers proceeded to the apartment and knocked on the door. Penn ran out of the apartment. She was visibly shaken and stated, "He has a gun. He's wrapping it in a black sock." The officers evacuated the apartment building, found and arrested the defendant, and located a loaded firearm in a black sock on the ground directly below the window of the apartment.
Upon returning to the station, police Detective Robert Zingg unloaded and then fumed
On further appellate review,
2. Discussion. We review an order denying a motion for new trial to "determine whether there has been a significant error of law or other abuse of discretion." Commonwealth v. Grace,
a. Failure to disclose evidence. The defendant first maintains that the motion judge erred in denying his motion for new trial because the Commonwealth denied him due process by failing to disclose documentation of the fuming process despite requests to do so during discovery. See Brady v. Maryland,
Even assuming arguendo that the Commonwealth failed to disclose some hypothetical documentation concerning Zingg's fuming procedure, the defendant has not met his burden to show that this supposed evidence was exculpatory in that it tended to negate his guilt or support his innocence.
b. Right to a public trial. The defendant also contends that his right to a public trial under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution was violated when his family was barred from the court room during jury empanelment.
Order entered April 21, 2017, denying motion for new trial affirmed.
The defendant was also indicted on two charges of assault by means of a dangerous weapon, G. L. c. 265, § 15B(b ) ; and one charge of receiving stolen property, G. L. c. 266, § 60. The Commonwealth entered a nolle prosequi on the receiving stolen property charge and on one of the assault charges. The other assault charge was dismissed by the trial judge as duplicative of the armed robbery charge.
As set forth in the Boston police department latent print processing manual, "Cyanoacrylate fuming is a method for developing friction ridge impressions .... Cyanoacrylate vapor is thought to polymerize due to a reaction with water and possibly other latent print constituents to form a white deposit." The process is used to test an item for latent fingerprints.
A panel of this court had previously reversed the judgments on direct appeal in an unpublished decision issued pursuant to our rule 1:28, Commonwealth v. Smith,
The defendant initially filed a pro se motion for new trial. While the motion was pending, the defendant filed a motion for additional discovery of evidence related to the fuming, which was allowed. With the help of appointed counsel, the defendant filed an amended motion for new trial. We refer to both the pro se and amended motions as the motion for a new trial.
The defendant also maintains that the Commonwealth acted in bad faith by failing to disclose additional documentation of the fuming. Because there is nothing to suggest that the Commonwealth possessed any undisclosed documentation, we disagree.
For the same reasons, the defendant has not demonstrated that "a substantial basis exists for claiming prejudice from the nondisclosure." Commonwealth v. Tucceri,
"There is nothing in the Constitution of this Commonwealth corresponding to the right to a 'public trial' expressly granted by the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States." Commonwealth v. Blondin,
In light of our conclusions, we need not separately address the defendant's claim that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to raise the alleged discovery violation or to object to the closure of the court room.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.